Local serviceman dies in Tennessee crash

CHAMBERSBURG - Friends of Sgt. John Zullinger, the soldier who died in a fiery crash in Tennessee over the weekend, say the Army Scout who served several tours of duty in Afghanstan and Iraq embodied the definition of the term hero, even before he put his life on the line on faraway battlegrounds.

Zullinger, a Chambersburg native and member of CASHS' Class of 2007, was on his way home when his truck was hit by a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 75 near Athens, Tenn. at 12:35 p.m. Saturday. Zullinger's truck and the U-Haul trailer he was towing had pulled onto the shoulder of the road in the northbound lane prior to the accident.

The rig, which was also northbound, went off the road onto the shoulder, hitting the rear of Zullinger's truck and pushing it across the road into the median, where both vehicles burst into flames. The U-Haul trailer he was towing broke away from the truck at the point of impact.

Zullinger was pulled from the wreckage but was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol press release.

Zullinger had completed nine years in the Army, where he served as a Calvary Scout. He was on his way home to Chambersburg while awaiting his final discharge from the Army.

He joined the Army in 2007. He was stationed at Fort Drum, New York and soon saw service in Kirkuk, Iraq. He would later be deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he would eventually serve two tours of duty.

He was last stationed at Ft. Lewis, near Takoma, Washington. When he decided to leave the Army this year, his friend Timothy Parker flew to Takoma and helped Zullinger load up his possessions in his truck and a U-Haul trailer to begin his journey home.

They drove to Parker's home in Alabama, where Zullinger spent a week with the Parker family. Zullinger left for Chambersburg at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Four hours later, the accident in Tennessee took his life.

Parker and Zullinger had been friends since high school and both joined the Army but took different directions in their military careers. Zullinger joined the Calvary, while Parker went into the Army's airborne division.

The two men had been very close as teenagers and considered themselves to be brothers, if not by blood then through their close frendship. Zullinger was a fixture in the home of Parker's parents, Michael Taylor and Tanangela Anderson, who said they considered him to be a part of their family.

"He was Tim's best friend, and he was a hero to our younger son Kyle," Taylor said.

Friend and hero were the two words frequently used to describe Zullinger when a group of high school friends, including Parker and his wife LaKay, gathered to remember Zullinger Monday afternoon.

"He embodied the definition of a hero," said his Eric Knepper, a childhood friend who had known Zullinger since they were both two years old.

Knepper said that in high school Zullinger was the protector of his group of friends, the one who always held the group together.

Another high school friend, Jamil Small, said Zullinger was not only the protector and "big brother" but he was also generous and giving.

"He would give you the shirt off his back," Small said. "He was always there for all of us."

Even after high school, as Zullinger served in far-away places, he kept in touch with his high school friends and his trips home were always joyous events that everyone anticipated.

Small said Zullinger loved people, and mentored a lot of the soldiers that served with him.

As an Army Scout, Zullinger was friend not only to the soldiers serving under him, but also his commanders.

Tom Gosseweller called him "a great NCO, man and friend."

"As a commander I couldn't have asked for a better soldier and leader," he said.

Many of Zullinger's Army friends posted on social media after finding out about his death over the weekend, calling him a hero, an NCO who mentored his soldiers and called them his brothers and sisters.

Nathan Mulcahy, who served with Zullinger in Afghanistan, called Zullinger "a great man," while Luke Baesler said Zullinger was "about as close to being universally liked as anyone I've ever met."

His friends said once he decided to leave the Army, Zullinger was looking forward to starting a new chapter in his life and talked about going into law enforcement, buying a house, and eventually getting married and having a family.

He loved children, and wanted children of his own, Knepper said.

He didn't have a serious girlfriend during the almost a decade he served in the Army, but Knepper said that was because Zullinger knew it would be hard to be married in the service.

"What breaks my heart the most is that he won't be coming home now," he said. "He won't have a chance to realize those dreams."

Funeral plans for Zullinger are incomplete. Services will include full military honors, with burial at Fort Indiantown Gap.

In addition to his many friends whom he called brothers, he is survived by his parents David and Deborah Zullinger, a sister Stephanie Zullinger and brother Matthew Zullinger.